1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mittens used in the sport of skiing. It is known that a mitten, because it allows the digits of the hand to remain together, is a much warmer alternative to the standard gloves used in the industry. However, the thumb still is excluded from this warm area and the entire mitten itself is still exposed to the cold environment as well as cold winds encountered by a skier's hand while moving. However, a glove or mitten not allowing the thumb to move free from the other digits would make it extremely difficult to grasp the ski pole, unless the ski pole itself was accepted by such a glove or mitten.
A better mitten would be one that would completely cover the entire hand and wrist area of a gloved or bare hand to insulate such from the cold and to protect such from the wind while incorporating the grip of a ski pole therein. The instant invention presents such a device with further improvements. The present invention will insulate and shield a gloved or bare hand from the cold and wind, as well as provide additional heat to the hands of the skier while enclosing the hand, wrist, and ski pole grip of a ski pole, while retaining the mitten to the latter by tether means. The present invention further allows the skier to conveniently remove the mitten from its enclosing position over the hand, wrist, and ski pole grip while keeping it attached and adjacent the ski pole grip by tether means.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The instant invention provides a hand warmer enclosure for the hand and wrist of a skier as well as the grip of a ski pole having pockets therein for the securing of heat packs further combined with a tether to secure the hand warmer, or mitten, to the ski pole itself. Thus, use of the instant invention is particularly effective in keeping the hands warm as a skier skis, while being retained upon the hand, wrist, and pole itself. In addition, the mitten may be removed from the hand, wrist, and ski pole grip to a hanging position below the grip of the ski pole, supported by the tether, when the mitten is not needed.
The known prior art teaches somewhat related hand insulators and protector shields used in the ski industry as follows.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,746,356, issued Jul. 17, 1973 to Donald R. Shipstad, discloses a hand enclosure for ski poles which is capable of receiving the hand and wrist of a skier within a hard, one piece enclosure having a ski pole grip incorporated therein. Although some of the same benefits of the instant invention may be experienced by a skier wearing the Shipstad enclosure, functional and structural differences still remain. The Shipstad enclosure is seen as an un-insulated rigid enclosure having a ski pole grip integrally incorporated therein and, in a second embodiment, capable of opening and closing with fastening means about the user's hand and wrist. Shipstad's enclosure, however, is lacking many of the features of the instant invention including: a plurality of insulation material layers, means for accepting a hot pocket, as well as tether means for attaching the enclosure to the ski pole.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,686 issued on Apr. 1, 1975 to Donald R. Shipstad et al., discloses a ski pole hand shield and method of manufacture therefor. You will note that this second patent issued to Shipstad, despite having the capability of being turned inside out to facilitate the insertion of the end of a ski pole within the hand shield's grip, lacks many of the features of the present invention as noted above in the discussion of U.S. Pat. No. 3,746,356.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,205, issued on Jul. 22, 1980 to Nancy O. Smith, discloses a ski mitten primarily used in the sport of cross-country skiing. Smith's mitten comprises a thumbless enclosure of flexible, hand-protecting material having a generally triangular shape, extending forward from a deformable cuff that engages a skier's wrist. An opening to accept the ski grip of a ski pole is located along the bottom of the mitten at the front end thereof. This opening is secured about the pole by elastic means and is large enough to permit the passage of the skier's hand therethrough in order to facilitate unencumbered engagement of the hand and the ski pole grip. A material patch is attached to the interior of the mitten, opposite the ski pole opening for reinforcement purposes. Again, we do not see in Smith's patent, the use of a tether to secure such a mitten to the ski pole, a pocket located within the mitten to secure an item, particularly a heat pocket, therein, or a slot, defined by material flaps of the enclosure, extending from the cuff opening to the ski pole opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,313, issued on Dec. 18, 1984 to Richard D. Delaney, discloses an insulated ski glove for enclosing the hand and wrist of a skier as well as the skier's pole and grip thereon. Delaney's glove is constructed of a plurality of layers to form and insulated enclosure capable of receiving the grip of a ski pole within the glove and securing it therein by means of an exterior strap fastener that engages the pole and glove from the exterior thereof. The glove may be additionally secured to the hand of the skier by means of an elastic strap situated on the exterior of the glove. Delaney's glove is seen as having structural and functional differences in regard to the present invention.
Lastly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,112, issued on Aug. 15, 1989 to Michael D. Effle, discloses a powder cuff for use by an alpine, downhill, skier to prevent snow from entering the overlapping cuffs of the skier's gloves and the skier's jacket. Effle's powder cuff comprises a cylindrically shaped enclosure, open at both the front and rear ends so as to accept the wrist and arm, respectively, of a skier. Effle's powder cuff has two elastic bands attached to the exterior surface thereof to enhance the retention of the cuff on the individual's arm as well as a zipper-type fastener for closing a slot, defined by two flaps of the cuff, extending from the arm opening of the cuff to a point just short of the wrist opening of the cuff.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.